COURTESY PHOTO
Veteran comedian Dom Irrera
returns to Honolulu with
plenty of new material
"Spermatocele" is not a word you would usually associate comedian Dom Irrera with. It's more "fuggedaboutit" and "bada-bing, bada-boom" with this veteran comic than "a benign cystic accumulation of sperm often found in the head of the epididymis that is usually present as a smooth, firm, well-circumcised mass of the scrotum." (Thank you, eMedicine.com.)
In other words, it's an XL sack of family jewels -- not that it's a bad thing.
Dom Irrera
Where: The Laugh Factory, Queen Kapiolani Hotel
When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday (Paul Ogata joins the bill on Friday)
Tickets: $15, $10 kamaaina and military. Two-drink minimum
Call: 931-4490
"It's a big word for the rupture of the sperm duct," he explained via phone from his Los Angeles home last week. "It's really a simple operation that I'll get before I come out to Hawaii. I'll survive it -- I got plenty of testicles to go around. Even though I won't be wearing my toreador pants onstage, I'll probably get 15 minutes out of the whole thing.
"Actually, my doctor had earlier told me he could have it out for cosmetic reasons, but I told him that's not a good enough reason. If that was the case, I would've gotten a nose job, too!"
For comfort and health reasons, he's agreed to go under the knife. After all, he and his girlfriend are seriously thinking of trying to start a family. So a more "svelte" Irrera will be returning to the local stand-up stage after, by his account, more than 20 years since he performed at the Comedy Store in Waikiki.
The islands have otherwise been a favorite vacation spot over the years, and he was here last August to guest on a couple of season-opening episodes of the ABC sitcom "My Wife and Kids," starring his good friend Damon Wayans.
"I was there for the two episodes they did at the Royal Hawaiian, and they were a couple of great gigs," he said. "Every time they were done with me, I'd take off my mic and go running into the water. Damon and I also did some unannounced stand-up at that club in Dave & Buster's while we were there."
IRRERA HAS PROVEN to be one of the consistently funniest and enduring comics in the business, and he can thank Rodney Dangerfield for that.
"I had just started -- I think my first TV shot was on 'The Tonight Show' in 1986," he said. "Dangerfield then heard about me and he invited me to appear on his HBO special in '87." Irrera's voice then slips into that patented, bug-eyed Dangerfield delivery. "He told me, 'You got some great s----, kid. You got a great rhythm. You rock!'
"That seven minutes I did on his show was the push I needed, because, you gotta realize, Dangerfield's specials were like 'The Sopranos' in those days. They were really popular.
"My intentions as a comedian is not to be too specific and just be funny. My set can be about anything, like airplanes, my grandmother, Iraqi looters and medical procedures -- like the one I'm about to have!
"I try to be as funny as I can and make sure the crowd has a great time. My act is a little dirty, a little clean -- although since I've been on tour with Cher, it's been squeaky clean."
Ever since Dangerfield gave him his big break, Irrera has gone on to do a couple of award-winning cable comedy specials. The award in 1989 was for his own HBO appearance on the "One-Night Stand" series, where he introduced us to the colorful characters of his blue-collar South Philadelphia neighborhood and his multigenerational Italian-American household: himself, mother, sister, grandmother, uncles and cousins all under a three-story roof. The other award in '95 was for the Showtime "Full Frontal Comedy" series he hosted, a burlesque-type show, "all comedians and strippers."
He's been a staple on all the late-night network talk shows and on Comedy Central, where he hosted four seasons of the irreverent NFL show "Offsides." He also has been a guest crank caller on "Crank Yankers" and been on friend Colin Quinn's free-for-all "Tough Crowd."
"I was on the show (the previous week), and we were doing a roast for Yassir Arafat. One of my jokes was 'Hey Yassir, the Olive Garden just called. They want their tablecloth back!" (Ba-dum!)
There's no chance that Irrera will be slowing down any time soon, spermatocele or no.
"I'm having too much fun," he said. "My girlfriend wants us to take two weeks in August, but I like working so much. I mean, how cool is it to come to Honolulu to do stand-up?
"And since it's been a while since I've done my act there, I'll do a bit more of my older stuff. I mean, I can't ignore guys like Joey Bag o' Donuts and Big Petey and Little Petey, who've been around so long in my material. But I can't do that stuff with other crowds that see me on a regular basis. Pretty soon they'll be asking me, 'What are you, the Beach Boys?'"
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